Brady tops Manning, Patriots beat Broncos

Tom Brady won his latest showdown with Peyton Manning with the help of a career-high 151 yards rushing from Stevan Ridley and the Patriots beat the Denver Broncos, 31-21, on Sunday.

By Glen Farley

The Herald News, Fall River, MA

By Glen Farley

Posted Oct. 7, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Oct 7, 2012 at 7:23 AM

By Glen Farley

Posted Oct. 7, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Oct 7, 2012 at 7:23 AM

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Given the pregame hype, given the game-day competition, this was the 2012 Patriots’ finest hour.

Actually, it wasn’t quite an hour.

“It was a good, solid win for us,” head coach Bill Belichick said following his team’s 31-21 win over the Denver Broncos at Gillette Stadium. “I think we’ve still got to really work on playing 60 full minutes and doing everything right all the time, but we did enough things today.”

Enough of them to build a 31-7 third-quarter lead before a couple of touchdown passes from Peyton Manning – two of the three he tossed while throwing for 345 yards in the game – cut the deficit to 10 and had the Broncos in a position to pull even closer when defensive end Rob Ninkovich forced a Willis McGahee fumble that linebacker Jermaine Cunningham recovered at the New England 11 with 3:42 to play in the game.

“He just made a good play,” said McGahee. “I had (the ball) high and tight, but still, you’ve got to do better than that. I think that changed the game and I take full (blame) for that.”

Credit the Patriots with playing complementary football.

En route to amassing a franchise-record 35 first downs, the offense produced 444 total yards, 251 of them on the ground; the defense recovered three fumbles, two of them forced by Ninkovich.

“That’s how it’s going to have to be,” said defensive tackle Vince Wilfork, who recovered a fumble on a Ninkovich strip sack of Manning. “If we’re going to be successful, we have to play together as a team.”

Dictating the tempo with their no-huddle offense (a preview of coming attractions), the Patriots struck first, driving 84 yards in 12 plays in less than five minutes to take a 7-0 lead with 3:08 remaining in the opening quarter when Tom Brady (23-for-31 for 223 yards and the one TD with no interceptions) and Wes Welker (13 receptions for 104 yards) teamed up on an 8-yard touchdown pass.

The scoring play saw Brady freeze the Denver defense with a pump fake to his right before finding an open Welker to his left with Broncos cornerback Chris Harris in the general vicinity.

It took Denver a little more than four minutes to respond; Patriots cornerback Devin McCourty aided the Broncos’ cause.

Covering 80 yards in 10 plays, the Denver drive ended 55 seconds into the second quarter when Manning found tight end Joel Dreesen with a TD pass after McCourty was flagged for pass interference in the end zone, the call (which was obvious) moving the ball from the 20 to the 1.

The Patriots answered with an 80-yard touchdown drive of their own, this one a 14-play production consisting of equal parts passing and the run (seven each), culminating with Shane Vereen slipping in from the 1.

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A 16-play, 93-yard drive pushed the lead to 17-7 at the half, but this time the Patriots were denied at the 1, linebacker Von Miller forcing them to settle for a 23-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski when he surged into the backfield to throw Brandon Bolden for a 4-yard loss on third down.

A dose of complementary football upped the difference to 31-7 in the third quarter.

On the first play from scrimmage after Brady capped off another 80-yard touchdown drive by sneaking the ball in from the 1 (the key play on that drive Danny Woodhead’s 19-yard carry on third-and-17 from the New England 43), Ninkovich jarred the ball loose from Manning, Wilfork recovering at the Denver 14.

That led to an 8-yard touchdown run by Stevan Ridley (28 carries for 151 yards and a touchdown, but also a fourth-quarter fumble), the Patriots’ second score in a span of 15 seconds.

The Broncos snapped the Patriots’ run of 24 unanswered points by driving 90 yards in 10 plays that took 3:34, Manning’s 2-yard back-shoulder throw to wide receiver Eric Decker (with McCourty in coverage) making it 31-14 with just over a minute to go in the third quarter.

Belichick’s decision to attempt to convert a fourth-and-five at the Denver 37 turned into a disaster when defensive end Elvis Dumervil got to Brady for a strip sack that cost the Patriots 20 yards in field position and led to a 5-yard TD toss from Manning to wide receiver Brandon Stokley that cut the deficit back down to 10 (31-21) with 6:43 remaining.

“For the most part,” said Brady, “it was a good day. It’s a good win against a very good team.”